Multicultural Education Robert Painter

What is Culture?  Culture is nothing, more nor less, than the shared ways that groups of people have created to use and define their environment….Therefore, they have also created language, which is included in culture.” --Asa G. Hilliard III

Three facts about Bilingual Education  The education reform bill signed by President Bush in January commits federal support to bilingual education programs for up to three years for any student with limited proficiency in English.  States have proposed increasing local school district control over bilingual education.  Parents of children with limited English proficiency already have the right to choose mainstream English education over bilingual or other specially designed programs.

What are the different methods?  English immersion: Instruction is entirely in English. Teachers strive to deliver lessons in simplified English so that students learn English and academic subjects.  English as a Second Language: May be the same as immersion but also may include some support to individuals in their native tongue (classes are comprised of students who speak many different languages but are not fluent in English). They may attend classes for only a period a day, to work strictly on English skills, or attend for a full day and focus both on academics and English.  Transitional bilingual education: Instruction for some subjects is in the students’ native language but a certain amount of each day is spent on developing English skills (classes are comprised of students who share the same native language).  Two-way bilingual education: Instruction is given in two languages to students with the goal of the students becoming proficient in both languages (usually team taught).

What is Standard English vs. African American English?  Standard English is perceived to be the language that sets the standards of quality, when in fact, Standard English is common or ordinary English comprised of Germanic Jutes, Angles, Saxon, Latin, Celts, French and even African influences.  African American English also referred to as Ebonics, Black English, Southern Black English perceived to sound unintelligible, lazy, ignorant.

 Why can some students acquire additional dialects with ease such as ghetto and chetto (country and ghetto) and utilize skills like code switching while several other students do not easily acquire standard English?

Acquiring a new language involves….  Making a connection Identifying with people who speak the language Group acceptance Building self-esteem Associating the language with fun

What is the reality in schools?  The negative response from schools to the students’ home language insured that they will reject the school’s language and everything the school has to offer.  The more determined a school is to rid the school of the children’s home language, the more determined they must become to preserve it.

The Learning Gap  25 % of black and Hispanic children reach the state’s fourth- grade reading goal, compared with more than 70% of white students, according to the CMT scores.  In the state’s seven most impoverished urban school systems (Hartford, Bridgeport, New Haven, New Britain, New London, Waterbury and Windham) one of every three eight- graders is identified as a poor reader, compared with one of every 15 in the rest of the state.

The primitive language myth  Linguists long ago dispelled the myth that there are primitive tribes who speak primitive languages. It is known that there is no correlation between simplicity in material culture and simplicity in language structure.  However, the myth lives on…. Language of low income groups in rural and urban industrial areas is somehow structurally “impoverished” or “simpler” than Standard English.

Moving towards a national public policy in Language Geneva Smitherman suggests…. I.Reinforce the need for and teaching of the language of wide communication II.Reinforce and reaffirm the legitimacy of non- mainstream languages and dialects and promote mother tongue instruction as a co-equal language of instruction III.Promote the acquisition of one or more foreign languages, preferable a language spoken by persons in the third world, such as Spanish, because of widespread use in this hemisphere

Just for Fun  What do you call a person who speaks three languages?  Answer: Trilingual  What do you call a person who speaks two languages?  Answer: Bilingual  What do you call a person who speaks one language?  Answer: An American

For More Information…  Delpit, Lisa. The Skin That We Speak. New York  “Keep option open in Massashusetts”  “Learning Gap Persists”  “Bilingual Education”